By Samuel John Klein of Portland, Oregon - An Independent Graphic Designer living in a city that was built upon an ancient Unicorn burial ground.

27 June 2009

Multnomah County Library, Good Samaritan Dept

2112.If we needed any more proof that the Multnomah County Library is the best damn library anywhere, check out the kind of good deed they do.

Around our house we check out a hell of a lot of books. We were working the MultCoLib for budget entertainment long before you staycationers and recession-victims figured out you could get a night of DVD entertainment for nothing there. The Libe is, without a doubt, one of the bestest places in the universe and rightfully a pride of Metro Portland.

Since we check out a metric tail-load of books from there, sometimes we use whatever's to had for bookmarks; napkins, flattened straws … even paycheck stubs in envelopes.

Recently I returned a stack, not knowing that i'd left a paystub in there (not to worry, we have direct-deposit; the funds represented by that slip of paper were, at that point, safe and sound). Time elapses. Last night, we go to the mailbox (the actual one on the street) and retrieve what looks like mail to me from … my workplace of all places. And it looks like a paystub envelope.

Puzzlemente! But when we turn the envelope over, we see this:

If it's hard to read, it says "You left this in a library book: Color Graphics. Have a Great Summer".

The way I figure it, it was most likely a library employee who caught it, in as much as it was returned with a Pitney Bowes postal meter stamp. There's a chance it could have been a private party, but the postal meter stamp argues against it. It was neatly sealed across the top with cellotape (thankfully I use a pocket knife to open my correspondence)

Not only did the Multnomah County Library return to me a potentially vital piece of personal documentation, they potentially saved this household from the scourge of ID theft. All because some Library worker, wanting to anonymously do the right thing, did so.

Dayum.

Multnomah County Library; you want any tax increase, any at all, you got my "yes" vote in perpetuity for restoring a little of my bruised, jaundiced faith in humanity. I also remember I need to go put a book or two on hold.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Just want to say that I work for Fort Vancouver Regional Library (across the river in Vancouver, WA) and we do the same thing, if there's a name to the item in a returned item, we at least give them a call--used to be able to just mail it, but we got hit hard with budget woes this year, as likely did Multnomah County Library, I'd imagine. It is nice to hear someone be positive about something a library employee did (even if not my library district). Thanks!

You're welcome, anon. There are a lot of naifs out there who just look for chances to hypercriticize and dogpile on public employees. I am decidedly not one of them.

But I am truly grateful. And whoever did the good deed just did it, didn't ask for credit, didn't do it to get bragging rights, just did it because, obviously, it's something they would have wanted someone do to them if they were in that spot. It's the Golden Rule in practice.

No matter what, libraries and librarians are me and my wife's heroes, and that's completely sincere.

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This Here Blogger

Graphic designer, writer, editor. Worker in the Big Machine; the quintessential working-class native Oregonian, I drive some of the grimier gears so the Big Cats and Kittens don't have to. Am in the process of reinventing myself as the artist I always ought to have been. My blog is The ZehnKatzen Times.

This sentence, courtesy of commenter "JD", will help you remember the initials in order:All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.

Commenter Dave DiNucci, using enough of the letters from each word to eliminate ambiguity, gives us the following two possiblilities: This first one plays on the fact that alphabetically-arranged streets going north from Burnside are named for Portland founders while those going south do not:ANcestors ASsociated Portland Oregon STreets With ALphabetic MORtals, Yet Toward SAlem, MAInly MADe JEjune, COLUmnar, CLiche MARked MIxtures. MONotones HARmonize HALfway, COLLiding JAuntily. Lines Gently SHim.

This second one is more poetic but less PDX-centered, but works the Gorge in, as well as Lincoln, Grant, and Sheridan: